Boy Scouts Cut Maximum Allowable Age for Youths to 18

[AZMike]

Sort of: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-scouts-cut-age-limit-18-move-will-impact-gays-n110521

 

 

From NBC:

The Boy Scouts of America will limit the maximum age of youth in its programs to 18 years old in 2015, down from 21, the organization told NBC News late Tuesday.

The move means those young men from 18 to 20 years old currently participating as youth members in Scouting will have to meet adult membership standards, likely by next spring, BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email. Those standards include barring “open or avowed†gay adults from joining and have been at the center of a controversy that has roiled one of America’s most popular youth organizations for years.

 

The BSA’s National Executive Board in February made the decision in a resolution lowering the eligibility age in such programs as the high-adventure co-ed Venturing program, Sea Scouts and the Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scouts’ National Honor Society, Smith said. Some 220,000 youth – or 8 percent of the Boy Scouts youth membership - participated in Venturing in 2012, according to BSA data.

The BSA’s signature program, Boy Scouts, already has its youth age limit set at 18. After last year’s controversial ballot to allow gay youth, gay Boy Scouts believed they could continue on from that program at 18 to Venturing or the Sea Scouts program and remain a member in the organization.

“The BSA is currently considering how to establish consistency in the age requirements for registration across its various programs including Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, Venturing and Order of the Arrow,†Smith said from Nashville, where the organization opens its annual meeting on Wednesday.

Smith noted this change would not be discussed at the meeting nor would any action be taken on it.

Implementation of the new age requirement will likely occur in spring 2015, he added. After that “young people who are 18 but not yet 21, will be required to register as adults but may still participate in those programs,†he said.

 

The Boy Scouts have grappled with their policy banning gays for years. In a live webcast just before the ballot to allow gay youth was held last May, BSA leaders said gay teens could still participate in the programs that define older boys as up to, but not yet, 21.

And then, the National Council voted to accept the new youthmembership standards which said participation was “open to all youth who meet the specific membership requirements to join the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, Sea Scout, and Venturing programs. … No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.â€Â

Smith, the BSA spokesman, said the need to streamline the age requirements across programs came “well before†the 2013 ballot. “Obviously, the membership policy change last year highlighted the need for consistency, but it wasn’t the only, or even first, factor,†he said.

The resolution -- obtained early Tuesday by NBC from a well-placed Scouting source -- to change the age requirement was not made public after it was approved by the executive board in February.

That resolution stipulates: “That effective as soon as can be practically implemented in the judgment of the Chief Scout Executive (BSA’s top professional leader), that any person age 18 or older seeking to register as a member of the Boy Scouts of America or any program offered or sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America shall be subject to the BSA adult membership requirements pertaining to, youth protection, criminal background checks and membership standards.â€Â

Liam Easton-Calabria, an 18-year-old openly gay Eagle Scout in Venturing said the decision was “like a slap in the face.â€Â

“That just makes me really mad because they offered us a glimpse of hope as to them being an inclusive organization when they let us in, the young ones,†he said by phone from Seattle. “It’s a letdown, for sure. I just expected more from them I guess. I thought they were moving in the right direction. But this seems like they’re rolling backwards.â€Â

Zach Wahls, co-founder of Scouts for Equality, which advocates for inclusion of gays in Scouting, said his group was “deeply disappointed in this decision and fear for the gay youth who thought they were safe and will now be removed from Scouting under this new, ill-advised rule."

"In changing the definition of what constitutes an 'adult' in Scouting programs, the Boy Scouts of America has broken the very first tenet of the Scout Law, that a Scout should be trustworthy,†he said in a statement.

First published May 20th 2014, 4:18 pm

 

[Sentinel947]

A person over 18 is not a youth. I'm 20. I'm not a youth. I've never understood the whole till 21 you can be a youth member in certain programs. One standard is fine. The timing however, sucks.

[King Ding Dong]

Sure one standard is fine. Prepare for more headlines "BSA Kicks Out Eagle Scout". National sure knows how to make a bad situation worse.

[RememberSchiff]

Sentinel947 WHAT? Someone UNDER 21 is allowed to be moderator of this forum? This is more jolting than my morning caffeine. What next, the Top 3 at National under 40?

 

Super Moderator...And you outed yourself man...Wearing suspenders ain't gonna fool us anymore.

 

Following BSA conventions, at most, maybe, Junior Assistant Moderator (JAM) or maybe a Moderator In Training (MIT, but then you would have to pay $100 for privilege to be refunded when old enough to be a Moderator)

 

, disclaimer the above was meant to be humorous. Sentinel947 thanks for volunteering as a moderator of Camp Runamuck here.

[Peregrinator]

They probably don't want to deal with the possibility of same-sex-married couples tenting together.

[Tampa Turtle]

Yeah we want to kick out any college age folks, right? My son, almost 16, was looking at Venturing and now is more likely to drop out. I understand the need to standardize but it still seems like another National shot to the foot. But it's been a few months, right?

[gsdad]

Good luck with a high school aged national OA Chief.

[Twocubdad]

Predictable. Once again BSA will try to have it's cake and eat it too. Instead of grey area youth we will have grey area adults. You don't think they're really going to clip the already-flawed Venturing program of all its members over 18?

 

We all knew a year ago there would be strange contortions to the program to accommodate an illogical policy. This is one of them. There will be more.

[perdidochas]

Yeah we want to kick out any college age folks' date=' right? My son, almost 16, was looking at Venturing and now is more likely to drop out. I understand the need to standardize but it still seems like another National shot to the foot. But it's been a few months, right?[/quote']

 

I think it's an absolutely stupid idea. I was thinking about starting up a Venturing Crew, so my son could be involved in Scouting as a youth in his Sr. year in high school (he turns 18 during high school). No need now. I guess National wants to disband Venturing in the next ten years......

[walk in the woods]

I'm reading this as 18 - 20 year olds have to register as adults and deal with YPT issues as an adult, but are still able to participate in the program as a "participant." If that interpretation holds then we can still have 20 year old OA chiefs, they just can't tent with 17 year old vice-chiefs. Same interpretation for Venturing. Given that society holds those 18 year olds as adults it probably makes sense to register them as adults. The spin is already bad and going to get worse.

[Huzzar]

I think that's the correct interpretation, dcsimmons. 19+ Venturers follow the adult rules but can participate as youth. Pretty much what they did at Jambo.

 

Looking at the alacrity with which BSA is showing 18+ gays the door and brooking no dissent from COs my guess is BSA got a worse kick in the pants from donation and membership drop than they anticipated with the youth change.

 

Scouting Magazine had a brief interview with Robert Gates and the issue of gay adults wasn't even mentioned.

 

The proposed program changes for Scouts have indicated that Duty to God will be incorporated into the Scout Spirit requirement.

 

Taking that all together it seems to me that BSA is trying to shore up its traditional base and not tick them off any further.

[fred johnson]

I fear BSA using "Duty to God" being used to shore up traditional supports will alienate even more people. If this is the direction BSA wants to go, then BSA members need to stop complaining about not having access to schools.

 

Personally, I think BSA is off track here. My faith is very important to me and making sure my kids have faith is very important too. But I think BSA is mis-directed in over-emphasizing the faith component. Scouting is not a Sunday School program. It definitely has faith components. But trying to over emphasize those will just push people away.

 

And, I'm getting tired of BSA alienating people. It's hard to say you teach citizenship if you alienate people so often.

[King Ding Dong]

A person over 18 is not a youth. I'm 20. I'm not a youth. I've never understood the whole till 21 you can be a youth member in certain programs. One standard is fine. The timing however' date=' sucks.[/quote'] Until you can sit and have a beer with me you are still a youth. Hey, enjoy it. It's all downhill from here.

[qwazse]

Until you can sit and have a beer with me you are still a youth. Hey' date=' enjoy it. It's all downhill from here.[/quote']

 

Beer distributor's kid here. Even if I managed to suppress all of the negative memories that Dad was clever enough to put in our heads by making us work the warehouse the summers in Jr. high, not sure I could bring myself to sit and have a cold one. But that's okay. I'm fine with being a youth -- albeit a caffeinated one.